Blog posts by Access Team

10:45am | 26 February 2015 | by Access Team

Today the U.S. Federal Communications Commission listened to the more than 4 million voices who asked for the agency to protect the open net. Voting 3-2 in favor of Net Neutrality, the agency re-classified broadband internet under Title II of the Communications Act—the strongest protections currently available. The move caps off almost a decade of activism by civil society groups in the U.S., but also pressure from groups outside the country including members of the Global Net Neutrality coalition.

6:00pm | 20 February 2015 | by Access Team

This week two important news stories broke about digital security. The first related to the installation of adware on Lenovo laptops that used a very insecure method of tracking the web browsing habits of users. The Intercept reported the second news story, which detailed how U.S. and UK intelligence operatives infiltrated one of the world’s largest SIM card manufacturers to steal the encryption keys of the chips used in cell phones.

12:06pm | 13 January 2015 | by Access Team

4:58pm | 9 January 2015 | by Access Team

2014 was a major year for digital rights, with some significant victories and some worrying setbacks. 2015 is poised to be no different. This year, we asked Access staff to spotlight the big digital freedom issues for 2015. And we’ll need your help in the fight for digital freedom around the globe.

8:22am | 5 June 2014 | by Access Team

On June 5, 2013, The Guardian revealed the first in a series of classified National Security Agency (NSA) document leaks provided by former government contractor Edward Snowden. The first document we saw contained an order requiring Verizon to hand over all customer metadata on “an ongoing, daily basis” to the NSA and FBI, a surveillance program as egregious as it is disproportionate. The leaked documents that followed revealed further evidence of widespread user surveillance and bulk data collection by the NSA and Britain’s GCHQ. These included tapping into Apple, Google, and Microsoft servers and listening in on private mobile phone and Skype calls. Across the world, internet users and foreign government officials alike soon learned that they were unknowing targets of NSA spying tactics.

4:18pm | 10 January 2014 | by Access Team

A broad coalition of activist groups, companies, and online platforms will hold a worldwide day of activism in opposition to the NSA's mass spying regime on February 11th. Dubbed "The Day We Fight Back", the day of activism was announced on the eve of the anniversary of the tragic passing of activist and technologist Aaron Swartz. The protest is both in his honor and in celebration of the victory over the Stop Online Piracy Act two years ago this month, which he helped spur

12:31pm | 26 November 2013 | by Access Team

In 2013, we learned digital surveillance by world governments knows no bounds. Their national intelligence and other investigative agencies can capture our phone calls, track our location, peer into our address books, and read our emails. They do this often in secret, without adequate public oversight, and in violation of our human rights.

2:21pm | 18 April 2013 | by Access Team

The House of Representatives passed the privacy-invading Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) by a vote of 288 - 127. The bill must still pass the Senate, and overcome a veto threat from Obama, before it becomes law.

4:38pm | 20 March 2013 | by Access Team

Access has joined nearly forty other privacy advocates, civil society organizations, and companies like Reddit and Mozilla in signing a letter urging the Obama administration to renew its veto threat against the resurrected cybersecurity bill CISPA.